The Cambridge History of China - Volume 3 Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part I

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY

OF CHINA

General editors

DENIS TWITCHETT and JOH N K. FAIRBANK

Volume 3

Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part 1

Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008

Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008

THE CAMBRIDGE

HISTORY OF

CHINA

Volume 3

Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part I

edited by

DENIS TWITCHETT

CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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© Cambridge University Press 1979

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First published 1979

Reprinted 1993, 1997. 2006. 2007

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GENERAL EDITORS' PREFACE

In the English-speaking world, the Cambridge Histories have since the

beginning of the century set the pattern for multi-volume works of

history, with chapters written by experts on a particular topic, and unified

by the guiding hand of volume editors of senior standing. The Cambridge

modern history, planned by Lord Acton, appeared in sixteen volumes

between 190a and 1912. It was followed by The Cambridge ancient history,

The Cambridge medieval history, The Cambridge history of English literature,

and Cambridge Histories of India, of Poland, and of the British Empire.

The original Modern history has now been replaced by The new Cambridge

modern history in twelve volumes, and The Cambridge economic history of

Europe is now being completed. Other Cambridge Histories recently

undertaken include a history of Islam, of Arabic literature, of the Bible

treated as a central document of and influence on Western civilization,

and of Iran and China.

In the case of China, Western historians face a special problem. The

history of Chinese civilization is more extensive and complex than that

of any single Western nation, and only slightly less ramified than the

history of European civilization as a whole. The Chinese historical record

is immensely detailed and extensive, and Chinese historical scholarship

has been highly developed and sophisticated for many centuries. Yet

until recent decades the study of China in the West, despite the important

pioneer work of European sinologists, had hardly progressed beyond the

translation of some few classical historical texts, and the outline history

of the major dynasties and their institutions.

Recently Western scholars have drawn more fully upon the rich

traditions of historical scholarship in China and also in Japan, and greatly

advanced both our detailed knowledge of past events and institutions,

and also our critical understanding of traditional historiography. In

addition, the present generation of Western historians of China can also

draw upon the new outlooks and techniques of modern Western historical

scholarship, and upon recent developments in the social sciences, while

continuing to build upon the solid foundations of rapidly progressing

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VI GENERAL EDITORS PREFACE

European, Japanese and Chinese sinological studies. Recent historical

events, too, have given prominence to new problems, while throwing

into question many older conceptions. Under these multiple impacts the

Western revolution in Chinese studies is steadily gathering momentum.

When The Cambridge history of China was first planned in 1966, the

aim was to provide a substantial account of the history of China as a

bench mark for the Western history-reading public: an account of the

current state of knowledge in six volumes. Since then the out-pouring of

current research, the application of new methods, and the extension of

scholarship into new fields, have further stimulated Chinese historical

studies. This growth is indicated by the fact that the History has now

become a planned fourteen volumes, which exclude the earliest pre￾dynastic period, and must still leave aside such topics as the history of

art and of literature, many aspects of economics and technology, and

all the riches of local history.

The striking advances in our knowledge of China's past over the last

decade will continue and accelerate. Western historians of this great and

complex subject are justified in their efforts by the needs of their own

peoples for greater and deeper understanding of China. Chinese history

belongs to the world, not only as a right and necessity, but also as a

subject of compelling interest.

JOHN K. FAIRBANK

DENIS TWITCHETT

June 1976

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CONTENTS

General editors' preface page v

Ust of maps and tables x

Preface to volume } xii

List of abbreviations xiv

1 Introduction i

by DENIS TWITCHETT, Professor of Chinese, University of Cambridge

The establishment of national unity 2

Institutional change 8

Economic and social change 22

Sui and T'ang China and the wider world 32

The problem of sources 3 8

2 The Sui dynasty (581-617) 48

by the late ARTHUR F. WRIGHT, formerly Charles Seymour

Professor of History, Yale University

Sixth-century China 49

Wen-ti (reign 581-604): the founder and his advisers 57

Major problems of the Sui 73

Yang-ti (reign 604-17): personality and life style 115

Problems of Yang-ti's reign 128

3 The founding of the T'ang dynasty: Kao-tsu

(reign 618-26) 150

by HOWARD J. WECHSLER, Associate Professor of History and

Asian Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The seizure of power 15 3

Extension of dynastic control throughout China 160

Internal policies 168

Relations with the Eastern Turks 181

The Hsuan-wu Gate incident and the transfer of power 182

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V1U CONTENTS

4 T'ai-tsung (reign 626-49) the consolidator 188

by HOWARD J. WECHSLER

T'ai-tsung's ministers 193

'Regional politics'at the court 200

Domestic policies and reforms 203

Policies designed to strengthen central authority 210

Foreign relations 219

The struggle over the succession 236

5 Kao-tsung (reign 649-83) and the empress Wu: the

inheritor and the usurper 242

by DENIS TWITCHETT and HOWARD J. WECHSLER

Rise of the empress Wu 244

The empress Wu in power 251

Kao-tsung's internal policies 273

Foreign relations 279

6 The reigns of the empress Wu, Chung-tsung and Jui￾tsung (684-712) 290

by RICHARD W. L. GUISSO, Assistant Proftssor of History,

University of Waterloo, Ontario

The period of preparation (684-90) 290

The Chou dynasty (690-705) 306

Chung-tsung and Jui-tsung (reigns 705-12) 321

The period in retrospect 329

7 Hsuan-tsung (reign 712-56) 333

by DENIS TWITCHETT

The early reign (713-20): Yao Ch'ung and Sung Ching 345

The middle reign (720-36) 374

Li Lin-fu's regime (736-52) 409

Yang Kuo-chung's regime (752-6) 447

The end of the reign 45 3

8 Court and province in mid- and late T'ang 464

by C. A. PETERSON, Professor of History, Cornell University

The north-eastern frontier 468

Te-tsung (reign 779-805) 497

The provinces at the beginning of the ninth century 514

Hsien-tsung (reign 805-20) and the provinces 522

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CONTENTS IX

The provinces under Hsien-tsung's successors j)8

Decline of the provincial system j 5 2

9 Court politics in late T'ang times 561

by MICHAEL T. DALBY, Assistant Professor of Chinese History,

University of Chicago

The rebellion of An Lu-shan and its aftermath (75 5-86) 561

Development of the inner court (786-805) 5 86

Centralization under Hsien-tsung (805-20) 611

Mid-ninth-century court (820-59) 635

10 The end of the T'ang 682

by ROBERT M. SOMERS, Assistant Professor of History,

University of Missouri-Columbia

Fiscal problems, rural unrest and popular rebellion 682

The court under I-tsung (reign 859-73) 700

Hsi-tsung (reign 873-88) 714

New structure of power in late T'ang China 762

Glossary - index 790

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MAPS AND TABLES

Maps page

1 Sui China, 609 129

2 Sui and T'ang canal system 136

3 Late Sui rebellions, 613-16 145

4 Late Sui rebellions, 617 147

5 T'ang conquest 164

6 T'ang China, 639 204

7 T'ai-tsung's advance into central Asia 227

8 Kao-tsung's protectorates in central Asia 281

9 Kao-tsung's interventions in Korea 283

10 Military establishment under Hsiian-tsung 368.

11 T'ang China, 742 403

12 An Lu-shan's rebellion 454

13 T'ang provinces, 763 488

14 Ho-pei"rebellions, 781-6 502

15 T'ang provinces, 785 508

16 Fiscal divisions of the empire, 810 520

17 T'ang provinces, 822 539

18 Banditry in the 830s and 840s 686

19 Ch'iu Fu and P'ang Hsun rebellions 698

20 Wang Hsien-chih's bandit confederation, 874-8 728

21 Huang Ch'ao's movements, 878-80 738

22 Distribution of power after Huang Ch'ao's rebellion, 885 765

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MAPS AND TABLES XI

Tables page

1 Sui emperors and their reign periods xvi

2 Outline genealogy of the T'ang imperial family xvii

3 T'ang emperors and their reign periods xviii

4 Marriage connections of the T'ang royal house xx

5 T'ang weights and measures xx

6 Land distribution under the Sui dynasty 94

7 Location of Hsuan-tsung's court 358

8 Frontier commands under Hsiian-tsung 367

9 High leadership of ninth-century political factions 645

10 Summary of data on identifiable members of mid-ninth-century

political factions 6)3

11 Distribution of power after Huang Ch'ao's rebellion 764

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PREFACE TO VOLUME 3

The Chinese is transliterated according to the Wade-Giles system, which

for all its imperfections is employed almost universally in the serious

literature on China written in English. For Japanese, the Hepburn system

of romanization is followed.

Chinese personal names follow their native form, that is with the

surname preceding the given name.

Place names present a complex problem, as many of them underwent

changes during the course of the period covered by this volume, some

of them several times. In general we have used the names in use in the

period until 741 and employed as the head-entries in the monographs

on geography in the two Dynastic Histories of the T'ang, even when

(as for example from 742 to 758) this is strictly speaking an anachronism.

In some cases there is possible confusion between modern provincial

names, used as a regional description, and the names of T'ang provinces.

The convention is adopted of hyphenating the syllables of T'ang place

names, and not hyphenating modern names. For example Hopei represents

the modern province, Ho-pei the T'ang province. For modern place

names some non-standard spellings which have become customary, for

example Nanking for Nanching, Sian for Hsian, are retained.

For dates the Chinese and Western years do not exactly coincide. The

Western year which nearly coincides with the Chinese year is used as

the equivalent of the Chinese year. For example 716 is used as equivalent

to the fourth year K'ai-yiian, which in fact ran from 29 January 716 until

15 February 717 (it included an intercalary month). Dates, where given,

are expressed in Chinese lunar months and days, since this makes reference

to the Chinese sources simpler than if they were expressed in the Western

calendar. Western equivalents may easily be found for the T'ang period

in Hiraoka Takeo, Todai no koyomi (Kyoto,

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PREFACE TO VOLUME 3 Xlll

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank the American Council of Learned Societies for two

grants which have enabled us to support the editorial assistance of Robert

Somers and Stephen Jones in the preparation of this volume. Mr Somers

undertook preliminary editing on chapters i to 5. Mr Jones, in co￾operation with Cambridge University Press, has edited the text of the

entire volume. The maps were prepared by the editor and drawn by

Ken Jordan FRGS and Reg Piggott.

We would also like to acknowledge the generous support given by

the American Council of Learned Societies to the Conference on T'ang

Studies held at Cambridge in 1969. That conference, in which all but

one of the contributors to this volume took part, gave a new impetus

to the study of the period, and proved invaluable in formulating the

basic outline of Sui and T'ang history, and in establishing the major

problems to which this volume and its successor attempt to provide

answers.

My co-chairman at that conference, and the co-editor of the symposium

volume, Perspectives on the T'artg, in which the papers were published,

was the late Arthur F. Wright, who died while this volume was being

prepared for press. I and my fellow contributors, several of whom have

been his pupils, and all of whom were his personal friends, would wish

to record our tribute to the great contribution he made to the study of

medieval Chinese history, and our sadness that he did not live to see the

completion and publication of this volume, in the progress of which he

had been so deeply involved.

DCT

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ABBREVIATIONS

AM

BEFEO

BSOAS

CTS

CTW

CYYY

HJAS

HTS

JA

JAOS

JAS

LSYC

MSOS

SGZS

SPPY

SPTK

SS

TCTC

TD

TFYK

THGH

THY

TLT

TP

TSCC

TT

TTCLC

TYGH

WHTK

WYYH

Asia Major (new series)

Bulletin de I'Ecole Franfaise d'Extrime-Orient

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

Chiu Vang shu

Cb'uan T'ang-wen

Kuo-li cbung-yang yen-chiu-yiian U-ibih yu'-yen yen-chiu-so chi-k'an

(Academia Sinica)

Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Hsin T'ang sbu

Journal Asiatique

Journal of the American Oriental Society

Journal of Asian Studies

U-shih yen-chiu

Mitteilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen %u Berlin

Shigaku ^asshi

Ssu-pu pei-yao edn

Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an edn

Sui shu

T^u-chih t'ung-chien

Taisho shinshu Dai^pkyo edn of the Buddhist Tripitaka

Ts'e-fuyuan-kusi

Toho gakuho; refers to the journal of this name published in

Kyoto unless specified THGH (Tokyo).

T'ang hui-yao

T'ang liu-tien

T'oungpao

Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng edn

Tung Hen

T'ang ta chao-ling chi

Toyo gakuho

Wen-hsien t'ung-k'ao

Wen-yuan ying-hua

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ABBREVIATIONS XV

EDITIONS EMPLOYED FOR MAIN PRIMARY SOURCES

The Standard Dynastic Histories are cited in the punctuated critical texts

published by the Chung-hua shu-chii, Peking. This edition is also available

in a reprint published in Taipei. Works from this series to which reference

is made are:

Ch'enshu, 2 vols., 1972

Cbiu T'angshu (abbreviated as CTS), 16 vols., 1975

Choushu, 3 vols., 1971

Hsin T'angshu (abbreviated as HTS), 20 vols., 1975

Hsin Wu tat shihy 3 vols., 1974

Nan sbib, 6 vols., 1975

Pei Ch'i shu, 2 vols., 1972

Pet sbib, 10 vols., 1974

Sui shu (abbreviated as SS), 6 vols., 1973

Wei shu, 8 vols., 1974

Collected works of individual authors, unless otherwise specified, are

cited from the editions reprinted in the Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an.

Buddhist works, unless otherwise specified, are cited from the Taisho

shinshii Dai^pkyo edition of the Buddhist canon.

The editions of other frequently cited primary sources are as follows:

Ch'u'an T'ang-wen, imperial edn, 1814; reprinted in facsimile, Hua-wen

shu-chii, Taipei, 1961; Hua-wen shu-chii, Taipei, 1961. (Abbreviated

asCTIF)

T^u-chib t'ung-chien, Ku-chi ch'u-pan-she edn, Peking, 1956. (Abbreviated

as TCTQ

Ts'e-fuyuan-kuei, edn of Li Ssu-ching, 1642; reprinted in facsimile Chung￾hua shu-chii, Peking, i960; Ching-hua shu-chii, Taipei, 1965. (Abbre￾viated as TFYK)

T'ang hui-yao, Kuo-hsiieh chi-pen tsiing-shu edn, Shanghai, 1935; reprinted

Chung-hua shu-chii, Peking, 1957. (Abbreviated as THY)

T'ang liu-tien, edn of Konoe Iehiro, 1724; reprinted in facsimile Wen-hai

ch'u-pan-she, Taipei, 1962. (Abbreviated as TLT)

Tung Hen, Shih T'ung edn, Shanghai, 1936. (Abbreviated as TT)

T'ang ta chao-ling chi, Shang-wu yin-shu-kuan edn, Shanghai, 1959.

(Abbreviated as TTCLC)

Wen-hsien t'ung-k'ao, Shih-t'ung edn, Shanghai, 1936. (Abbreviated as

WHTK)

Wen-yuan ying-hua, edn of 1567 with prefaces by T'u Tse-min and Hu

Wei-hsin; reprinted in facsimile, Chung-hua shu-chii, Peking, 1966.

(Abbreviated as WYYH)

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